User talk:Waitak

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User_talk:Waitak/Archive

Contents 1 Natural disaster 2 Re: vegetable oils, new to Wikipedia, and Botryococcus braunii article 3 Missing CfDs 4 Re:Essays 5 Daniel 6 Interlingua 7 smile 8 List of edible seeds 9 List of Australian plant species 10 List of basil cultivars 11 Re Cerealicious 12 alumno 13 behenolja 14 Autoblocked 15 User:24.147.18.78 16 Template:H5N1 case graph 17 96.3 Radio Aire 18 No problem 19 Myrica gale 20 List of medicinal herbs 21 H5N1 image w/o regression? 22 What do you believe box

[edit] Natural disaster

Hi, I had a look at Natural disaster again, I saw it got a major revamp again today. You asked for my opinion, and if it was up to A again. My conclusion would be .. not yet, but getting there (though I realise that it is in a similar state as when it acquired A-status; I have also asked Martin Walker to have a look at it).

When going through the article it occurs to me, that it could as well be called natural hazard, which is not the same. I am working in a chemical lab, and there the chance on a 'disaster' is defined as the product of 'the hazard of a project' and 'the chance of it happening' (the chance I cut myself on a piece of glass is big, but the hazard can be considered low (as long as cuts are not in arteries), the chance of me blowing up a reaction with sodium azide is small (I hardly use it, try to avoid it, and using my knowledge I apply extra safety measures, take more care and avoid dangerous situations), but the hazard is huge (explosions cause a lot of damage, even on laboratory scale)) .. to me that is not yet clear from the article. The intro sentence would not be correct, technically, both the hazard as the chance can be influenced by people, so there may be a third factor there, and a disaster taking place in a place where no people live is still a disaster for wildlife (but it may be that the definition is different). As an example: another ice-age would be a big hazard (I would give it a 8 or 9 on a scale of 1-10), but the chance of happening is very small .. Hence, not really something to worry about. Also things to consider in the article may be predictability of hazards etc. I think it would be good if the article would elaborate on this a bit more (though I already see it is going to be controversial). I'll keep an eye open, the page is on my watchlist. --Dirk Beetstra ^{T C} 11:13, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I was asked to comment on this, and this is appropriate as I was the one who tagged it as A in the first place. My standards have probably gone up a little since then, but the article still appeals to me a great deal. I think the topic is very unusual, and as such it's very difficult to judge. This is because it is a broad topic, but not in the sense that Humanities is a broad topic - rather, it is a collection of very specific, fairly narrow topics. I felt at the time I tagged it as A that this article covered listy topics so much better than most, so I wanted it to stand out a little as a model to follow.

I like the way the article looks now, a definite improvement. But Dirk has pointed out some definite omissions that I hadn't thought of, such as the use of Hazard analysis to assess chances. That article covers avionics, but in fact we use the same method on a chemical plant (we call it HAZAN); roughly speaking hazard = (seriousness) x (probability). Thus flooding of London was considered unlikely, yet they built the Thames barrage because the potential damage would be immense if it happened (think Katrina x 20). Perception of disaster is important, as it shapes public policy. When a train crashes and 100 people are killed there are government inquiries and new safety laws, but when 100 people die in a week on the roads in 100 separate incidents, this is just put down to a hazard of the roads; the result is that in the UK at least, the spend to save a life on the trains is many times the spend to save a life on the roads. The related topics of disaster prevention and emergency management should probably be included as part of that section.

Dirk also points out the wider social aspects of perception of disaster - also a great point - things like a disaster being punishment from the Gods, fate, etc. (even in our own times, see David Edward Jenkins, see 2nd paragraph). You could add a section on the use as an artistic device in genres such as the Disaster film, but this would have to be worded carefully in summary style to prevent everyone adding their favourite movie to the article! Finally, the article should have more references - our expectations in this area are going up. With all that, it would get an A from me again! Sorry if it seems like I'm adding a lot, but Dirk got me thinking, and it will make a great article! Thanks for all your work, Walkerma 06:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: vegetable oils, new to Wikipedia, and Botryococcus braunii article

Bobkeyes 21:15, 6 November 2006 (UTC) Thanks for the encouragement. Like you have noted, I am new to Wikipedia as a contributor. I am still learning the ropes. I am thankful for your hints. I will try to find a way to rephrase the Berzin entry better. I am happy you think that the Botryococcus braunii article is of decent quality. Learning to cite, and making the effort to cite, is important for a Wikipedia editor. I believe it is the only way that an article, and Wikipedia, can be taken seriously by scientific community. It is also useful for keeping one's own mind straight and honest on the topic.

[edit] Missing CfDs

I had encountered an edit conflict, and I thought I had combined everything back together. Sorry, thanks for making the correction and for letting me know that I screwed up. Alansohn 15:44, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re:Essays

I'll keep an eye on them, but in the case of consistent anon vandalism/reverts it's best to ask for semi-protection. Cheers, -- Vision Thing -- 20:02, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Daniel

• A little humor never hurt no one. (And yeah, that double negative was intentional ^_^). *waves goodbye as I head to Spain* Danny Lilithborne 03:49, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Interlingua

Hi, I noticed on your user page that you suggest Ido is probably a better language than Esperanto but doesn't have much chance for success. You might check out the Interlingua article. So far, Interlingua may be second to Esperanto in terms of success, but the gap seems to be closing over time. Personally, I think Interlingua is a much better and more soundly developed language. Matt 03:40, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] smile

[edit] List of edible seeds

I've only been through the Featured List process once before, for List of U.S. states by elevation, and didn't find it onerous. I'm very impressed at the work that the WP community has done on that list: I started it the article with a pretty bad list, and I'm delighted at the work.

Are there specific work items you think we need to do to make it featured? Are you a Support ?

Isn't it too late to withdraw now?

hike395 06:37, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Copying over your comments back here: hike395

Well, there are a few things:

• The links are a bit all over the place. Some point to more general articles (because the specific articles weren't written) others to the specific articles, and it's hard to tell from the text without mousing over the links.
• The sections don't make sense to me. Some identify how you eat the seeds, others what kind of seeds they are. They seem fairly arbitrary and counter-intuitive.
• Aside from the leadin - which is quite informative! - there's no extra information for the entries, or even for the sections. It could be a lot more informative.
• Hardly any references.
• No images

I don't really know if it's possible to withdraw it at this point! Anyway, I hope the comments are helpful. Waitak 07:02, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

The things you've mentioned are useful and good, but they mostly aren't in the criteria for featured lists. WP:LIST doesn't say that we need to have uniform quality of articles linked to, nor extra information for each section, nor even images (although I can certainly easily add images to the article, not a problem).

The references may indeed be a problem: I'm going to go to the library tomorrow anyway, I can see if I can find books on seeds and food. Any extra web references would be appreciated.

I'm not sure how else to thematically group the seeds: I'm open to suggestions.

I hope you are willing to help address any problems in the feedback? Many hands make light work, and I do like the work you did in List of vegetable oils. If you are unwilling to work on feedback at this time, I can try to withdraw the nomination. I was all excited by the goodness of the list: sorry I didn't discuss it at Talk:List of edible seeds. hike395 07:20, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

New stuff at User talk:Hike395 hike395 08:43, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I notice that you're removing references to WP itself: on purpose? accidently? Let me know. hike395 15:39, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I guess the snapped cables have really affected you, sorry to hear that. Probably the best thing is to let the nominated lapse (or withdraw it). If I don't hear back from you, I'll withdraw it. Good luck! hike395 05:30, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Australian plant species

In case you hadn't noticed, List of Australian plant species has been proposed for deletion. NickelShoe (Talk) 19:41, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of basil cultivars

Thanks for doing a good job on the list. I was surprised, as I never bother with lists on Wikipedia after seeing a couple of crummy ones a few years ago--and wouldn't have bothered with FLC, except that it was a plant. I looked over your changes, the text is succinct, covers all that is necessary and no more, and the list is well done and the images are appropriate. Good work. KP Botany 20:04, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

PS You may post future lists on [[1]] for input. Your botany is fine, in that you aren't misleading anyone with any of your information, so don't worry about it too much for future lists you create, just a bit of terminology need tweaking. KP Botany 20:22, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Congratulations on getting FL status for your (and others') hard work on the List of basil cultivars. KP Botany 02:03, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! I'd invite you to the party, but the commute might be prohibitive... :-) Waitak 06:22, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, rather an expensive commute even at the best of times. Besides, I'm up here enjoying my 20F nights, why would I want to escape to an austral summer? "Basal," hmmm? KP Botany 14:24, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

No summer available here in Hong Kong! :-) It's a chilly 12C at night here these days. Waitak 15:09, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I thought you were in Australia for some reason. Chilly 12C, thanks. I'll think of that tomorrow while breaking the ice off my windshield before dawn. I don't think it's even 12C in my house yet. KP Botany 15:59, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

People are wearing down jackets here, I kid you not. People die when it gets down to 4-5C, which happens every few years. On the other hand, none of the houses have heat, so 12C outside is 12C inside... Waitak 00:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, please, what incredible whimps! I have to hot wax my hands after de-icing my car, and you're complainging about 12C! I did homework last night wearing mittens! Seriously, I hadn't realized you might not have heaters in such a mild climate. 4-5C could be uncomfortable, if you don't have the means to overdress for warmth. I do love a mild climate. We lived in San Diego for years before returning to the Bay Area and arrived without any coats or sweaters. When we moved we got a notice that the heater wasn't working, and we would be charged for fixing it. I established that we had never had a reason to use it, though. In Alaska and all over the north people have to plug their cars in overnight or they won't start the next day. It's interesting how with the Internet you can consider aspects of people's lives and cultures that are entirely foreign, like how mild the climate is in Hong Kong. KP Botany 16:46, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

No, no, no... I'm not complaining... I wear a light jacket here three or four days a year, and short sleeve shirts the rest of the time. I've been to Alaska (it snowed... in August...), grew up in the Midwest, and have been camping when it's twenty below. I love cold weather. But you know, there are other ways in which people in Hong Kong would go, "People in the US (or wherever) get all worked up over that??? Ya gotta be kidding..." And don't get me started about Vegemite... ;-) Waitak 01:32, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Hey. I'm looking at the article right now, and there's one thing I can't figure: What are the <includeonly> tags used for? This tag is activated by transclusion (e.g. typically for templates), but the page is not transcluded anywhere! This results in, I believe, a very confusing source code.Circeus 13:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

And by the way, the tag is <includeonly>, not <onlyinclude>, as is used in the article...

Okay, so it's a nonstandard (an oherwise undocumented,but I'm used to undocumented features by now lol) tag used to implement a javascript feature, correct? It still is confusing as heck to editors and furthermore causes extra whitespace to be added. Would a <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> version listed at the end of the article and commented out with explanations as to its use (e.g., similar to the explanation inserted near Template:Persondata or <references/> tags) equally work, or is it necessary that they be worked within the articles' structure? Or maybe the proper <includeonly> in this exact same fashion, and then allow transclusion? Gah! this is all too complicated, but I know I won't be able to live with myself if I don't clear it up...

Where was this feature first discussed and established? I'd need to see this discussion to properly assert the situation.Circeus 15:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I understand the behavior of the tag now:

• <noinclude>: Shown on page, not in transclusion.
• <includeonly>: Not shown on page, shown in transclusion.
• <onlyinclude>: Shown in page and transclusion, but excludes other content from transclusion.

I have nothing against the tag itself, but the extra line breaks around it cause all sorts of issue with whitespace, so I think a <onlyinclude> blurb at the end, as I proposed, hidden via CSS (because these three tags have all sorts of problems when combined >.>) will work just fine. I'll try it now.Circeus 15:18, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Never mind that. Just removing line breaks seems to fix it.Circeus 15:24, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re Cerealicious

Hehe yeah I understand. My whole reply is on the Cereal talk page. =) Berserkerz Crit 11:56, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] alumno

Sorry? - that is what I need deleted. Please retain as title of list List of IHMS alumni Paring Bol-anon instead of List of IHMS alumno Paring Bol-anon. Thank you so much for the speedy reply. --Ate Pinay (talk•email) 10:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

that's okey. Thank you for the speedy response. I am turning in now. I hope the admin can follow our conversation. Best regards --Ate Pinay (talk•email) 10:43, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] behenolja

I noticed (many months later, as it turns out) a query about the swedish page here for use in another article. I took a quick look at it and it should be within my competency level. If you still want it, let me know, and I'll translate it for you and let you take it from there. Arker 23:19, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Autoblocked

Your request to be unblocked has been granted for the following reason(s): Autoblock of 203.198.23.69 lifted or expired. Request handled by: — Nearly Headless Nick 12:37, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User:24.147.18.78

This individual was blocked on Dec 21 for one month. The month is now over, and this individual is back, and he's doing it all over again. Carajou 00:50, 26 January 2007 (UTC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:24.147.18.78

[edit] Template:H5N1 case graph

Template:H5N1 case graph has Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct at the bottom with every third verticle line lomger than the other two indicating the longer line indicates Jan 1, Apr 1, and so forth. The shaded regions are inconsistant. Count the number of months in each shaded and nonshaded ares (flu season versus nonflu season). Now look at the regression which according to the bottom "is shown extended through the end of March, 2007." But the deaths line is two thirds the way through the last three months on the chart indicating it is through to March 1 instead of Feb 1. Did you lose a month somewhere along the line? I think this error has been in there from the very beginning. WAS 4.250 18:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Nice spot! There were indeed two problems. First, the 2005 flu season shading was off by a month. That happened because, when I add a month, I have to manually move the shading bars, and... well, I missed. The other was that I have to manually set the end date, to show a reasonable amount of the predictive regression curve after the actual data. That's done by explicitly setting the maximum for the X axis. Last time I added, I should have added two months instead of one, so the axis didn't match the caption. I'm pretty sure that these errors were only introduced in the last few updates, though I haven't gone back through to check. Thanks again for the catch. Waitak 00:46, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 96.3 Radio Aire

I didn't "vandalise" the Radio Aire page, the DJ Simon Logan was on the radio this morning and told listeners to come to this ste and edit the Radio Aire page and put in stories about him (I deleted something that was a totally made up lie about him being a fireman and naming his left shoe which he read out on air this morning and replaced it with something truthful which he will find funny and read out tomorrow)

his show goes out to around a million listeners so I'm surprised that more people haven't been on putting stupid comments on! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.195.27.254 (talk) 13:25, 1 February 2007 (UTC).

I apologise, you didn't write that about Radio Aire, as for the Povery comment, I've never even been on that page (until just now), so no, I didn't vandalise it, it must have been someone else on the same IP address (I work in a college so it could have been anyone!)

[edit] No problem

No problem Julian Cervantes 04:48, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I didn't realise that there might be a disagreement there, I reduced the font size since it's already highlighted. I think it can be separated by colour or font size, but doesn't need both. Julian Cervantes 03:26, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Alright, let me try another format and let me know your thoughts. The only thing I find odd are large fonts inside a table box (it looks like it doesn't quite fit). Julian Cervantes 05:05, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Myrica gale

Hi, Waitak, though you might be interested in this article independent article on Myrica gale. Apparently is very good for sensative skin and acne and a large chemist is trying to raise the amount produced. --Salix alba (talk) 21:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of medicinal herbs

Thanks for the ref cleanup. Also, I'm glad you added the link to properties. I'll conform to that list.--LtlKty^{talk | contribs} 05:17, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] H5N1 image w/o regression?

Hi! Your image (Image:H5n1 spread (with regression).png), plotting H5N1 cases and deaths, is very good. However, the regression line (i.e. the choice of which regression to use) would probably count as "unpublished ideas" and that's not allowed by WP:ATT - is there a version of it without the regression? Thanks. —AySz88\^-^ 19:03, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the kind words! It'd certainly be easy enough to make one, and I have no objection either way if that's what the consensus is. I discussed the idea of the regression with on one of the H5N1 talk pages at the time - don't remember which one. It seemed to the editors that participated in the discussion that it would be within the spirit of WP:NOR to include it, although I agree that it's at best a gray area. The editors seemed to think that it was a good idea to leave it. If you'd like to raise it for discussion somewhere appropriate, I certainly would honor whatever the consensus of the community turns out to be. I'd particularly like to hear what the major contributors to the H5N1 articles have to say before making a change that significant. Waitak 05:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What do you believe box

Well I "borrowed" it then, thanks?--Tomtom9041 00:53, 13 March 2007 (UTC)